Download the pdf - Global Footprint Network

22 22
Living on our planet
Figure 2: Changes
in the Global
Ecological
Footprint of Human
Consumption Over
Time Relative to
Global Biocapacity
(data Global
Footprint network)
2000 2008
Built-up land
Fishing
Forest
Grazing
Cropland
Carbon
Currently the average citizen of the Asia and Pacific region uses 1.6 global
hectares (gha) of biologically productive land and sea (also known as
biocapacity) to support the consumption of food, fiber, timber, energy and
space for infrastructure and to absorb their carbon dioxide emissions,
while only 0.9 gha is available. For most countries this gap is widening.
Overall, the biocapacity available per person in 2008 was two thirds of that
available in 1960. In a world of diminishing resources, this growing deficit
can only be partially offset by imports of natural resources from outside
the region. Strategies will be needed that result in more sustainable use of
biocapacity and greater efficiency in use of resources. Without such
measures, a growing deficit in the region will result in further depletion of
natural capital, loss of biodiversity, and loss of ecosystem services. For
many of the rural poor, their access to natural capital is also at risk.
MeAsuRIng ouR IMPACt on the nAtuRAL WoRLD
The Ecological Footprint is an accounting framework developed by
Global Footprint Network to measure the amount of biologically productive
land and sea area that humanity needs to produce the resources it
consumes, provide room for its infrastructure, and absorb its waste.
The current National Footprint Accounts (Global Footprint Network
2011) track a resources ‘basket’ that includes crops, fish for food as well as
other uses, timber, and grass used to feed livestock. It also includes
productive areas that are being used for urban and transport
infrastructure. Carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuel is the only
waste product currently included in national Footprint assessments (Figure
2). As people consume resources from around the world, the Ecological
Footprint of consumption, measured in units called global hectares4 , adds
these areas together regardless of where they are located on the planet.
Ecological Footprint (number of planet Earths
Ecological Footprint (number of planet Earths)
2
Built-up land
Fishing
Forest
Grazing
Cropland
Carbon
1
0
1961
1970 1980 1990 2000 2008
4 A productivity weighted area used to report both the biocapacity of the earth, and the
demand on biocapacity (the Ecological Footprint). The global hectare is normalized to the
area-weighted average productivity of biologically productive land and water in a given year.
Built-up land
Fishing
Forest
Grazing
Cropland
Carbon